Brian is also frustrated with Facebook, with good reson, so he will be starting a blog after they get to Colorado.

I read that too. That's too bad. Facebook is a lot to keep up with besides the 'new' features.

----------- Thanks to Always51 for posting this amazing story. ------------

I'm sure with their move Roo will find the peace and quiet Brian thought they'd find in Vermont when he packed up and moved from L.A. for Roo's sake. Remember the video of Roo swimming in Colorado? Wow. It was so heartwarming to see her run like a dog should.

BTW, this link: IndieGogo is for anyone who'd like to pitch in - benefiting rescues and enabling Brian to finish his book. Half goes to rescue, half to help him finish his book.

He's a terrific writer. As a lifelong voracious reader I found Brian's writing as good if not better than anything I've read. If anyone liked "The Art Of Racing In The Rain" (Enzo, the dog, talking about life from his perspective) you'll like Brian's real life writing. Words that touch that good place inside us. Check out Roo's story. Amazing story, beautifully written.

If his series "Notes From A Rescue In Progress" (linked below) are any indicator, I'm in for one heck of a good read when Brian's book is done. Sponsors get copies of his book and a dedication by pitching in at hisIndieGogo site.

You even get a picture of you and your dog in the credits at the "Pack" and "Big Dogs" level.

Here's a sampling (Part 1) for anyone who hasn't had a chance to read Roo's story. He captures her state as an abandoned, abused and broken angel so vividly.

I sincerely hope her story gains a lot of international attention. in the same way Charles Dickens did in the 19th Century in bringing the plight of the downtrodden into the public eye. Incredible things happened in England as a result. Even bad dog owners who hear about it might think twice about putting another precious soul through the same thing. I hope Brian won't mind if I post Part 1. Links to the other chapters of Roo's adventure are posted in my previous post.

A beautiful young Golden Retriever is hiding in the dark in my closet. I have seen her eyes in the sunlight, so I know they are filled with fear. By the time I got her, all she wanted was a place where she could hide her head. She scrambled behind the toilet. Eventually I cleared a den for her in a dark closet. She is shutting out a world in which everything scares her. I hear her shallow panting.

Roo was named by a rescue worker from IndiLab Rescue who pulled her from a high-kill shelter in Los Angeles and brought her to an inner-city clinic to be spayed. The first time I saw her, she was trembling at the end of a leash when a tech brought her out into a Saturday morning waiting room packed with pit bulls and Chihuahuas. The tech was downcast about the state the dog was in, or maybe just about the job in general. His scrubs were bloody, and Roo was covered in a week’s worth of what happens when you’re not let out of a small cage. The amount of money vouchered by the county didn’t inspire anyone to rinse the thick wadding of feces and urine off this girl before slicing her belly open.

The golden fur bred into her by humans for their luxury requires human grooming. Roo’s was the dirty grey of the LA streets. It was gnarled into dreadlocks made of a hardened mixture of cement and gravel. The sides of her abdomen were sucked in tight. She didn’t walk so much as stumble. As soon as she got outside, she peed for so long that a couple of machos with a pit bull made some cracks her way. I gave them a look that could have made me a gang casualty. Their pit bull looked like a kind dog with his own problems.

She was terrified, but Roo still had her dignity. More than I could say for myself some of the times when I’ve been wounded, scared, filthy, friendless and left for dead. I fell a little in love with her.

Sounds that I couldn’t even hear sent Roo cringing to the ground, her snout flattened in submission on the sidewalk. She expected everything to hurt her. In the bright sunlight I saw dozens of fleas crawling on her. I got down on the sidewalk and felt her trembling when I held her. She let me. With my body against hers I felt her irregular breathing. I tried to tell her things were looking up, but I don’t know if I sounded convincing.

The idea of getting in the car terrified her. I lifted her up and put her in. Every muscle in her body was as tense as a high-voltage wire. She froze and shook.

My guess is that this dog had been imprisoned. She probably grew up in a cage or a bathroom. It would explain why going into a house would be so threatening to her. Pulling on her leash wasn’t an option. I picked her up to bring her inside. For a minute I just held her and before long her muscles softened and her head drooped onto my arm. There are times a dog needs to be held as much as any human does.
Her crooked incision was inelegantly stitched. It looked like a homemade carpet repair. She was in no state to eat or drink, and what courage she worked up she used to scramble for a spot to hide. She jammed herself behind the toilet. I once knew a dog who marched himself up on top of a garbage pile when he was ready to die. It was heartbreaking. Roo reminded me of him.

But I knew something Roo didn’t know. I knew that her days of being harmed are over.

On balance, humans don’t have much to be proud of in the way we breed dogs and dictate the conditions of their lives as our property. Instead of living up to our simple end of the bargain – the provision of food, shelter and care – we are all too prone to letting those dependent lives be destroyed. All too many beings who start out pure and hopeful have their spirits crushed by what would be bad luck if it wasn’t entirely man-made. Well-loved dogs who are blessed with good lives comprise a tiny minority. Dogs like Roo – neglected, scared, jettisoned, sick and starved – are everywhere.

Any shelter is filled with dogs at every stage of the decline. Fur rots and tangles and becomes home to parasites before it falls out in clumps. Skeletons show. Infected ears make every moment a hell of pain and itching – under Roo’s flaps it’s all hot red scabs and thick brown wax. The skin is covered with sores from malnutrition and bloody scabs from gnawing at the fleas. Cuts fester. Teeth turn brown. Scars accumulate. Limps develop. Those are just the visible things. Those can be treated. Fear is a much tougher customer.

The fear is what you see in Roo’s deep brown eyes. Once she was a puppy whose eyes smiled at everything she saw. On her journey to her hiding spot behind a toilet, those smiles were extinguished.
My work was cut out for me. First things first – fleas and filth had to be dealt with so Roo could start to heal. Her incision could not be made wet, so a real bath was out of the question. Even if the incision could be protected, the flea meds can’t be applied after a shampoo.
After letting her decompress for an hour or so behind the toilet I pulled her out as softly as I could and carried her outside. I showed her how the hose works – it didn’t bother her – and ran a slow stream of cool water over her. I don’t have a bathtub, so that was the only choice. The thick black infestation of flea eggs on her back would have to wait; the water would have run down onto her belly.

Roo held still and began to close her eyes as the water ran over her. I worked as much of the dirt out of her with my hands as I could. She never moved an inch, and when the water soaked through the fur on her head I felt her take a deep breath and relax the muscles in her neck. Her head lowered a bit, and I felt her tongue lick my arm, tentatively and only a couple of times. I know what is feels like to receive unexpected kindness from someone who cares when you are wounded and frightened. Roo was feeling what I had felt. Cool water on a hot day.

Sometimes it takes so little to help. I patted her soft golden mane down with a towel. For a moment, with fleas crawling around a spot on her snout that she had scratched raw, she raised her eyes to look into mine. Her eyes were filled with exhaustion and strain, but for that moment there was no fear. Her look made me stop and hold her and she moved closer and leaned the top of her head against me.

Balls of the cement mixed with sharp rocks were jammed in-between her foot pads and underneath her claws. No wonder she had been walking gingerly. I chopped all the worst of it off with scissors. When I finished with one paw, she offered the other.

If my guess that Roo might have suffered long imprisonment is correct, it would account for why she was scared to come back inside the house. But back inside, she chose a spot under the desk instead of cramming herself behind the toilet, and that was a little less heartbreaking. At least she had chosen to be in the same room. It was a start.

She didn’t want any food or water. She just wanted to sleep. I left her in peace. I couldn’t take my eyes off her.

After a couple of hours I got down on my hands and knees to say hi to her and see if she might take a sip of water. Though she wasn’t ready for that, the tip of her tail tapped the floor a couple of times when she saw me. It wasn’t much of a wag as wags go, but it was as much of a wag as this weakened dog could work up, and it practically brought tears to my eyes. It was one of the best wags ever.

I held her head in my hands, and she went to sleep like that, her soft lips on the palm of my hand. And I felt her take a breath so deep that her ribs pushed up against mine. She sighed it out in that jagged way human children do at the end of a heavy cry.

Roo needs to have basic needs met. Fleas, recovery, nutrition. Her ears. Her coat. Above all, Roo needs love and kindness. I have my work cut out for me. Whatever someone did to her needs to be undone.

This is the first in a series that will describe what happens with this dog. I’ll let you know how it goes with the angel in the tattered golden coat. I’m almost as scared as she is. I’ll keep you posted.

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Rudy's Gotcha Day is February 1st, 2014 ANDY - You'll never be forgotten sweet boy

Brian's dedication to Roo has been so moving. The patience and care he has given her, to help her come out of her terrified shell ... right to his decision to move away from Vermont because of her fear of the gunfire... I just think he's one of those rare, special breeds. What a lucky girl Roo is. She had such a horrendous start to her young life. I hope one day Brian is able to help her forget those first few months even happened.

Brian's dedication to Roo has been so moving. The patience and care he has given her, to help her come out of her terrified shell ... right to his decision to move away from Vermont because of her fear of the gunfire... I just think he's one of those rare, special breeds. What a lucky girl Roo is. She had such a horrendous start to her young life. I hope one day Brian is able to help her forget those first few months even happened.

Very well said It's dedication that after leaving L.A. for Vermont so Roo could have some space to run around he had to move again.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Capt Jack

Just saw this have read part 2 & 3 at home my coworks would never let me live it down if they saw me cry

I had to grab some tissues too. Akin to reading the opening chapters of "The Art Of Racing In The Rain". The words go right to the heart. Brian really captures Roo's situation and the rainbow of emotions for both the rescued Roo and her rescuer, Brian.

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Rudy's Gotcha Day is February 1st, 2014 ANDY - You'll never be forgotten sweet boy

Danny told me about this forum and how much support there was here for the stories about my little puppy Roo. When I saw for myself, I was amazed. I'm so grateful to all of you for caring so much about Roo. I never really knew a Golden Retriever well, and in her all the beauty of the immense spirit of these dogs shines through.

As I write this, Roo and I are in Boulder, Colorado. As Danny mentioned in a post, the place I happened to rent in Vermont was strangely situated right where about a dozen (or so it sounded) people went to shoot in the forest. I rented the place because it was supposed to be extremely peaceful. It was, as you can imagine, pretty hard on the little Roo girl.

When she was in Boulder two months ago, she arrived at a new level of happiness. Especially because of one small lake where lots of dogs go to swim, she was able to meet and play with lots of dogs. She had just experienced water in nature for the first time a few days before, and playing with dogs not long before that. The combination of the two? Well, you're all more experienced Golden people than I am, so you can imagine how happy that made her. What a deep satisfaction that brought to her kind, damaged soul.

So I brought her back. We got a late start on Friday because I was bitten by a deer tick and had to get some doxycycline to prevent Lyme Disease from taking hold. We drove 500 miles Friday and stopped at Clarion, PA. Staying in motels is hard on Roo. Se gets very frightened. That place was harder than most, because it had two big mirrors in the tiny room, to make it appear bigger, and that spooked her. I always worry about setting her back.

On Saturday we covered about 800 miles. Roo is the perfect shotgun rider. Never a complaint. Every once in a while, lying in the passenger seat (she's tiny for a Golden, and can curl up on the front seat of my tiny Scion), she puts a paw on my thigh and presses down. When I look over at her, she is gazing at me, right in the eyes, unblinking. Boy. Does that ever hit me hard.

Saturday night we stopped in Sweet Water, Missouri, at a Rodeway. It was clean and quiet, and yet, that room, for some reason, really terrified Roo. I had to get some sleep, though, so all I could do was get her out of there as early as possible in the morning.

After another 750 miles on Sunday, we made it to Boulder. It was dark, and that made it harder for Roo. She definitely has problems with the dark. I have to leave night lights on for her. The first night - last night - she slept under a little table. When the sun came up, she hopped up on the bed.

Today she got her reward. We went back to Coot Lake, and Roo expressed pure joy - ebullience, genuine happiness - for two and a half straight hours. I've never seen her smile so much, prance and pounce so much. From the moment she arrived there and recognized where she was, until a last sunset dip that she couldn't resist, even though she was shivering by then, every minute was filled with happiness for her.

So, we're here in Boulder. I'll try to find a place that will be easy on her. And I believe that with her strength of character, her basic dog-goodness, that she will prevail. I see her getting better all the time, in spite of the fact that she has a hard go of it every day. Someone did some bad things to her. Things that, frankly, I'm not bighearted enough to forgive. I don't have any sympathy for people who abuse animals. When someone abuses a young puppy, I'm not sure that that person has anything left to recommend him to the world. Every morning, when I see Roo wake up, I can't help thinking about how she was hurt.

Well. Thank you all again for caring so much about Roo. And a special thanks to Danny for his big heart. I hope you all have a chance to visit the facebook page, where I post updates about this sweet puppy. Before too long I'll set up a web site - a suggestion of Danny's that makes perfect sense - and limit the facebook stuff. But for the time being, you don't need an account there. They make it look like you do, but you don't - you can just scroll down to the stories and pictures. The address is

I'm so glad you joined! You're gonna like it here. One of the few places on the 'net where it's all about love. I found it when my boy Andy was diagnosed with lymphoma last December 1st. What a godsend.

Again, welcome. And congrats on the new move. Not many people would uproot their lives twice for the sake of a golden girl. Anyway, you're certainly amongst friends.

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Rudy's Gotcha Day is February 1st, 2014 ANDY - You'll never be forgotten sweet boy

- If you'd like to create a signature with pic, links to your Facebook page or whatever, click "User CP" (left side of the toolbar up top). The menu along the left has everything you need.

- You can add something under your name other than "New Member" ... like "Roo's dad", etc. Under Edit Signature, you can add a picture of Roo and links to your Facebook page, et al that will show up at the bottom of every post. If you need any help people will be more than happy to assist you, as they did for me.

- Under "Search" you can find your threads or your posts.

- When you post on a thread it automatically "subscribes you". To manage those or check in on new posts in subscribed threads, go to the right of the toolbar up top and click "QUICK LINKS" nearer the right side of the toolbar

- To post YouTube videos, click "Go Advanced" under the text box. I've found that videos post best if I click "Share" on the YouTube video, then select "Long link". Just post that link in the text box and preview. Doing it that way someone can expand to full screen without having to leave and go to YouTube.

Again, Welcome!! Roo's story has touched so many people here and around the world. I'm subscribed to this thread and will check for updates, as I have since Always51 first posted this thread. It's been a very moving experience following her progress. Thank you for sharing it with us

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Rudy's Gotcha Day is February 1st, 2014 ANDY - You'll never be forgotten sweet boy